Mark of Four (16 page)

Alayne was grateful for the distraction. She smiled. “My dad said he took your dad fishing last weekend, and your dad completely wowed my dad with his fishing abilities.”

“Well, when you can actually lift the fish out of the water with the water itself, the sport’s not that difficult. We’ve got loads of fish in our storage at home. It’s just about all my mom ever cooks.” She bounced off the bench, clutching the book to her side. “I’m hungry,” she announced with one of her dizzying changes of subject. “Want something to eat?”

Alayne shook her head. “No, I’m still full from supper.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon. I’m going to run up to the commissary, ‘cause I want something hot and fresh.”

The sky had darkened considerably. After Marysa left, ominous flashes of light in the clouds turned them a pale green before they returned to their dark gray. The other students sitting around the tree slid off their seats and grabbed their things, hurrying toward the spire.

Alayne didn’t want to go back to the spire. Restlessness surged through her; she felt smothered whenever she entered the chute to return to her room. Excitement and joy of life seemed elusive right now. She wrapped her coat more snugly around her, missing Marysa’s toaster-warmth from the other end of the bench.

A rumble of thunder rolled across the sky. With a sigh, Alayne slid her feet back into her shoes and stood.

She faced the entrance, started to walk toward it, but then changed her mind. She couldn’t bear the stuffiness indoors. She turned north, crossing the deep shadow of the massive gymnasium above her, and then waded through the grass north of the spire, leaving the colossal structure behind. The thunder boomed over her head.

It had been a week since Jayme left. It would be another week until his return. Anticipation zinged through Alayne at the thought. She stopped walking, staring at the flat, empty horizon. The purple-green clouds hung low in the sky, heavy with rain that had yet to drop.

She hated what her relationship with Jayme had done to her friendship with Kyle. He now evaded her completely. Alex Wynch had invited her to play a game of ice-hockey for fun two nights ago, and she had agreed, but Kyle’s angry glare had sliced through her the moment she arrived at the ice. He’d demanded to know why she thought he should allow traitors to play, and while the rest of the team gaped at him, she had stumbled to an awkward halt before exiting the gymnasium, flushed with embarrassment.

The thunderstorm was in full swing now. Alayne tilted her head to the sky, enjoying the play of light through the dark clouds.

A streak of light left the clouds, fast, fast, and Alayne had no place to hide, nowhere to run. It was there, the bolt of lightning, and ... she could feel it.

The contents, the energy, the heat sizzled the air as the bolt streaked toward her, almost there, almost there. The heat burned her body; her hand stretched upward, warding it off.

The bolt stopped.

Frozen. In mid-air.

Alayne stared at the streak of fire, her breath coming in shallow pants. What had just happened? In a split second, she’d mastered fire.
A Quadriweave!
All four elements. She thought back to the field trip to the arboretum, then the fall off the tower, and last, this.

Her eyes widened. She had learned to utilize three of the four elements when her mind had told her that her life was in danger. Water-Wielding hadn’t been that way; it had always been like a gift, an extension of her fingers. These other elements—
Did I have to scare myself into them?

The point of the bolt had stopped about six feet above Alayne’s head. She reached up, tentatively touching the air around it, feeling the streak of energy all the way up to the cloud hundreds of feet above her. The bolt held fast. With a twist, Alayne yanked the element away from the bolt, and it snapped backward to rejoin the cloud.

Her eyes wide and her mind churning, Alayne stalked back to the Christmas tree. Some rain had spattered across the benches but had moved on quickly. Alayne evaporated the excess water. Marysa already sat on her side of the bench again, this time with a platter of fried chicken legs on her lap.

She looked up as Alayne approached. “Did you have a good walk? I brought some food back in case you changed your mind.” She studied Alayne, her eyes serious.

Alayne flushed. “Fried chicken sounds good.” She sat once again. “Maybe I’m hungry after all.”

“Help yourself.” Marysa set the platter on the bench between them. “I like the legs best, don’t you? I asked the cook specifically for them.”

“Mm, yummy.” Alayne grabbed a fat leg and bit into its greasy deliciousness. She wiped her mouth on her coat sleeve as she chewed. “These are good.”

“Guess who was in the commissary getting his own snack when I was there?” Marysa tossed down a leg bone and picked up another piece.

“Who?”

“Daymon.” She smiled when Alayne stopped chewing to listen. “Yeah, he wouldn’t have been too thrilled to see me either, but then again, when is he ever?”

“Good point.”

“Thankfully, he never
did
see me. When I went in, he was talking to Corn. None of the kitchen staff were around; it was just the two of them. They hadn’t seen me ‘cause I had gone straight to the pantry, and I overheard Corn say that she’d heard rumors about a Quadriweave at our school.”

Alayne froze mid-bite. After a second, she tore off her chicken, chewed, and swallowed. “How did she come to that conclusion?”

Marysa licked her fingers and went for her third leg of chicken. “Well, she said she’d sneaked into Chairman Dorner’s office last night, ‘cause the rumors had made her wonder.”

“She did not.” Alayne had stopped eating, staring at Marysa. “What did Daymon say?”

“He didn’t say much at all. He got real tense, you know, after she started talking about the Quadriweave, barked out a ‘What?’ like a drill commander or something. Anyway, I don’t think Corn found anything. She said she searched Dorner’s files, but there wasn’t anything in them about a Quadriweave. Then Daymon asked where she’d heard the original rumor, and she said when she’d gotten called to Dorner’s office a couple of weeks ago, the secretary had swiped something out of the air real quick, but Corn had seen it: ‘Quadriweave at Clayborne,’ with a question mark after it.”

Alayne swallowed, fear snaking through her insides. “And what did Daymon say to that?” For some reason, the answer was important to her, but she couldn’t understand why. Perhaps, in spite of his obvious jerk-qualities, his hatred for her, and everything else considered, she couldn’t put away the fact that he’d saved her life one time.

“His usual stupidity. He mumbled something about how it was probably nothing, or maybe some project for Dorner, and that Corn shouldn’t go reading into situations that weren’t there.”

Alayne forced a laugh. “That’s not stupid, right? I mean, Corn really
was
making up a situation that wasn’t there.” Another lie. The laugh quickly faded in the still air after the storm.

“You’ll never convince me that Daymon’s any sharper than the blunt end of a pickaxe. He and Corn left the kitchen then, still talking. But it does make me wonder.” Marysa glanced at Alayne with curiosity and something else written across her face. “You haven’t heard anything about a Quadriweave, have you, here at Clayborne?”

Alayne carefully studied the chicken in her greasy fingers. “Seems like if there was one, it’d be a pretty big deal, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Marysa laughed, a note in her laughter that Alayne didn’t recognize, nor like. Alayne glanced up at her friend to find Marysa staring at her, her normally exuberant expression twisted into a mask of hurt. “Seems like if your best friend was one, it’d be a pretty big deal, too.”

A
layne put
her chicken back onto the plate and wiped her mouth with her sleeve again. “What do you mean?” She stared at her fingers.

Marysa blew out her breath. “Oh, come off it, Layne. You’re my best friend in the whole world. Didn’t you think I could be trusted to keep your secrets?”

Alayne raised her gaze to Marysa’s face. “How did you find out?”

“Well, when you fell off the shuttle landing, I started to wonder. It seemed
so
unlikely that someone would have seen you and been able to stop you in time. When you would go out by yourself, I would follow you once in a while, just to see what was going on. Yes, I know, I’m incurably curious, and I’m sorry about that, but I couldn’t stop myself. So I was there the day you almost took the whole spire out with that swamp you made.”

Alayne didn’t say anything. Marysa flipped her black hair over her shoulder. “I tried to write it off as you just doing really well with your Elementary Elementals homework; after all, we’re supposed to learn a little of the other elements. But it seemed like so much.”

“And now, I’ve admitted it, so all doubt is removed.” Alayne glanced at the other empty benches around them, leaned forward, and spoke in a whisper. “Look, Marysa, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. You and Jayme were the only ones I wanted to tell, but Dorner told me I had to keep it a secret, even from my best friends. He said it was a matter of life and death. Any knowledge of a Quadriweave at our school could seriously risk my life.” She looked down at her hands. “So, please promise me that you won’t tell anyone else? Not even Jayme when he gets back?”

Marysa was silent. Alayne raised her eyes to meet her friend’s icy blue ones. Marysa sighed. “Of course, I’m not going to say anything, Alayne. I won’t tell anyone, not even Jayme, although he probably won’t understand why you didn’t tell him either when he finds out.”

Alayne bit her lip.

Marysa’s voice changed from chiding to exuberant, rocking Alayne a little off-balance, as her friend’s sudden changes always did. “But that’s totally awesome, Layne!” Marysa’s excitement was evident even in her whisper. “So can you really master all four elements?”

“Shush!” Alayne glanced around in alarm before relaxing. “I can get a good grasp on them all.”

“No wonder you’re doing so well in all your classes. It’s probably a cinch to do the projects the professors ask you to do.”

“Well, not a cinch, but it does help when I can tweak the details with the other elements.”

“I wonder if the professors have noticed?”

“I hope not.” Alayne shook her head. “I’ve tried to be careful.”

“As long as Daymon and Cornelia don’t start spreading rumors.” Marysa grabbed another piece of chicken. “They’ll have the whole school speculating before long.”

“Then we’ll just have to turn the gossip back on them,” Alayne chuckled. “We’ll start spreading rumors that Daymon is the Quadriweave.”

“Can you imagine?” Marysa finished her last bone and wiped her fingers. She stood. “He’d set up a command center for Shadow-Casters right here at Clayborne. Probably invite Simeon Malachi himself to take up residence here.”

Alayne laughed, but guilt twinged as she followed her friend back to the school, her thoughts centered on the dark-haired boy whose pain-filled eyes held so many secrets.

T
he next morning
Alayne rubbed the sleep from her eyes in time to see Marysa lurch into the room. “Merry Christmas,” she sang. She staggered under the weight of a huge lumpy package in her arms. “I brought you a Christmas present. Open it, open it, open it!” She bounced on the balls of her feet.

Alayne sat up and yawned. “Hold on. I need to get your present, too.” She placed her feet on the worn carpet and padded over to her closet. She rummaged for a moment, finally emerging with a small package wrapped in silver paper.

Marysa’s eyes lit up. “Don’t you just love Christmas? Here, let’s sit on your bed and open them.” She placed the present she had for Alayne at the foot of the bed and sat down beside it, patting the space on her other side for Alayne to sit.

Alayne brought the silver package over and sat, handing it to Marysa. “It’s not much.” She flushed, embarrassed. “It’s just a little something I put together.”

Marysa ripped the paper off eagerly. She caught her breath. “Layne, it’s beautiful. Thank you.” In a small, velvet box lay an intricate necklace made of ice. Each tiny link on the chain was exactly the same size, and on the end, a glittering snowflake pendant caught the morning light from the window, scattering a thousand sparkles across the room.

“I’m glad you like it.” Alayne pulled it from the box and shifted so she could fasten it around her friend’s neck. “It shouldn’t melt. I notched the bend, so hopefully, it’ll stay. If it doesn’t, I could probably fix it.”

“Layne, I love it.” Marysa gave Alayne an exuberant hug. “Thank you.”

“Welcome.”

“So now it’s your turn to open mine.” Marysa hefted the huge package across her lap onto Alayne’s. “You do need to be careful; it’s a little fragile.”

Alayne cocked an eyebrow as she studied it. She tentatively picked at the edge of the paper near the top of the package.

“Oh, come
on
,” Marysa huffed impatiently. “It’s not
that
fragile.”

Alayne grinned and tore the paper off in a long strip. Underneath, she found a massive oval mirror. Around the edges, intricately carved, a network of flames glowed with an orange-red light. The mirror itself showed clear. A jagged triangle of glass in the upper right portion was missing, exposing the brown wood beneath.

“Wow,” Alayne said, struggling to find words. “It’s great, Marysa.” She glanced at the wall at the foot of her bed. “I guess I can give my other mirror away now, so that’s good.”

She looked at her friend, hoping she hadn’t hurt her feelings with her lackluster response.

Marysa grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. “But
this
is a special mirror.” She lifted it off Alayne’s lap, settling it against the bed. “Come watch.”

Alayne hopped off the bed and came to stand with Marysa in front of the mirror. Marysa hunched down and slid her finger from one side to the other. Alayne watched in astonishment as the reflective image peeled back to reveal ... nothing.

“What ... just happened?”

“Who would you like to see, Layne?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what person or place would you like to see?”

Alayne’s mouth hung open. She shut it with a snap. “J-Jayme.”

“Tell the mirror.”

Alayne shook her head in confusion. “Tell the mirror—what, exactly?”

“Tell the mirror that you would like to see Jayme.”

Alayne knelt beside Marysa. “I—I’d like to see Jayme, please.”

“Now move your finger across the glass.”

Alayne swiped her finger slowly from right to left. The image peeled back.

And Jayme was there. He stood on a rocky outcropping, staring down a steep cliff into a canyon far below him. Alayne recognized some of the other students standing around him. Chairman Dorner moved into the picture, blocking her view of Jayme.

Alayne was speechless. She reached to touch the mirror, but Marysa stopped her. “If you touch it, the image disappears, so make sure you’re done.”

“What—how?”

Marysa settled back against the bed. “I had to clean out a storage closet for Professor Grace once. Well, I didn’t have to; I was doing it for extra credit. She was helping me for a while, but then got called away for something, and she left me alone. This thing was hiding under everything, wrapped in an old sheet. I liked the fiery scroll work, so when Professor Grace came back, I asked her if she needed it, or if I could have it.”

“And she just let you have it?” Alayne gasped, incredulous. She watched Jayme take some tentative steps along the edge. The wind whipped his curly brown hair.

“Well, I don’t know if she realized it wasn’t an ordinary mirror. She told me to help myself, and I hoisted it back to our dorm room. But when I set it down, I rubbed my shoulder against it, and the screen peeled back to show that blank screen. It took some finagling and figuring, but I finally got what the mirror does. It shows you whatever you want to see whenever you want to see it.”

“Don’t you think we should return it to Professor Grace now that we know what it is?” Alayne asked, feeling guilty.

“Um, no.” Marysa rolled her eyes. “Come on, Layne, I’m usually the goody-goody here. Don’t take a page out of my book.”

Alayne sat back on her haunches, flabbergasted. “I had no idea there was stuff like this out there.”

“Life is full of surprises, right? Some good, some not so much. I consider this a good surprise.”

Alayne leaned forward and hugged Marysa. “Thanks for the present, Mary. You’re the best.”

“I know.” Marysa touched the mirror. Jayme disappeared and the glass snapped back to the reflection of the room and its occupants. “Let’s go get some breakfast. I want to spend the day in the gymnasium’s pool, and then our parents will be here in time for supper.”

Alayne hauled the mirror to her closet; she'd hang it later. She followed her friend out the door, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

A
layne kicked hard
, pushing toward the surface of the pool. She’d chosen to swim in the diving pool because she enjoyed going deeper than the lap pool allowed. Marysa had opted for the lap pool, saying she liked to swim in the lanes.

Alayne broke the surface, enjoying the tingling that water always left on her skin. She squeezed water out of her hair, turned, and did a dolphin flip the opposite way. Coming slowly to the surface, this time on her back, she saw the rippled reflection of three figures through the distortion of the water. They stood on the side of the pool, arms crossed. She surfaced with hardly any disturbance, and her heart sank. It was three of the boys that Daymon and Corn hung out with: Ryck, Crede, and Jonathyn. They had never spoken directly to her, but they were always in the background, behind every confrontation Alayne had with Daymon or Cornelia, snickering behind their hands, making rude noises whenever she walked by. Typical jerks.

Crede strolled toward her, his angular, horsey face deceptively relaxed compared to his taut body. “Hey, Worth, how’s life without your skinny beanpole? Think he’s fallen off a cliff yet?”

Alayne wiped the water from her eyes. “I’m pretty sure he’s safe,” she answered, thankful to have seen Jayme just that morning in the mirror.

“Well, isn’t that just nice for you?” The pimples that lined Crede’s face stood out in sharp relief with his pale skin and red hair. His face twisted into a distorted mask as he walked to the edge of the pool and squatted down, resting his elbows on his knees and weaving his fingers together. The other two boys edged behind him.

“Come here.” Crede motioned with his hand.

Alayne allowed the water to carry her a little closer, but stopped when she was a good ten feet from him. “What do you want?”

Crede smirked. “To send you home.”

“What?” Alayne shook the water from her braid. “What do you have against me?”

The boys cackled, their high-pitched tones bouncing off the walls. Alayne threw a glance over at Marysa, who was halfway down the lap pool in a splashy crawl stroke and hadn’t noticed the disturbance.

“Nothing but your Natural filth,” Crede whispered.

Alayne stared at him, panic sparking at the base of her neck as the nerves in her left hand registered a warm band of skin around her middle finger. She glanced at her ring where it rested snugly against the base of her finger. She had put it on that morning in a fit of homesickness and then had forgotten to put it back in safe-keeping. The silver circlet, even in the cool water, was swiftly growing unpleasantly hot. The ring was supposed to get hot when someone meant her harm. She tensed, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Their gazes were as hard as flint. A slow smile spread across Crede’s face as a massive air-pocket circled into the water, creating a gaping hole from the surface of the water to the bottom eighteen feet below.

Alayne dove backward. Another air-pocket drove a hole into the water just in front of where she swam. She jerked to the side.

“Stop it, you guys,” Marysa screamed from afar.

A burst of flame erupted in front of the boys. It raced in a deadly circle around them, trapping them inside it.

Crede snapped his hand around, and a gale-force wind whipped through the arena. The fire skidded along the walkway, crashing against the wall, where it continued to crackle.

“Natural spawn!” Crede yelled. “You don’t belong here!”
Another air-pocket ripped into the water, carving a slow circle around Alayne. Her wet hair plastered across her face.

She yanked violently on the water element; a fifteen foot wave broke from the pool, crashing over the boys and dousing the fire. The boys lost their footing, yelling as they were dragged into the pool.

The shrieking sound of a train whistle blasted just behind Alayne. She looked back in panic. Crede’s tornado twisted her way, moving over the water toward her.

In desperation, Alayne gripped the air element, pulling the strands apart as they tried to twist. She could feel Crede’s stranglehold on it; she knew he felt hers, although she couldn’t tell if he knew it belonged to her.

The tornado first slowed and then exploded, gusts of wind blowing violently in all directions. In spite of Alayne’s water-drenched hair, the air whipped the honey-gold mass behind her.

Alayne turned quickly to gauge where the boys were. They struggled in the water near the edge of the pool, weighed down by their heavy winter clothing.

A cry left her lips as she spied another figure on the edge of the wall. His blue eyes registered shock and amazement.

Daymon. Alayne’s heart sank. “Come to finish the job, Daymon?”

He didn’t answer. Ryck had freed himself from the pool, and he turned to hurl his element at Alayne. It was fire—Alayne could feel the disturbance in the elements—but Daymon was there first. He snatched the air element from where Ryck stood and yanked it away. The boy curled over and gagged as his lungs emptied, and the fire at his fingertips suffocated.